R.I. jobless rate dips to 4.3% as state also loses jobs

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island’s unemployment rate dipped slightly, to 4.3 percent, in March — a 16-year low, according to state labor officials.

The decline in unemployment was two-tenths of a percentage point from the February rate, which was 4.5 percent.

A monthly jobs report released Thursday by the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training disclosed that the state nevertheless lost an estimated 700 jobs since February — a peculiarity that an economics professor said betrays Rhode Island's economic fragility.

Unemployment has declined for six months in a row and is down 1.1 percentage points during the past 12 months, noted Donna A. Murray, department assistant director for labor market information. It is the lowest rate since March 2001.

“It’s meaningful … in what a rate means to people,” she said.

She pointed out that Rhode Island’s 4.3 percent rate is better than the national rate of 4.5 percent, having also bettered the national rate in February. Prior to February, the last time Rhode Island outperformed the nation was May 2005.

“We’re looking for trends and the trend is in the right direction,” said department director Scott Jensen.

The statistical margin of error in the data is plus or minus 1 percentage point, and the data is subject to routine review and revision.

In comparison, the March unemployment rate in Massachusetts was 3.6 percent and in Connecticut, 4.8 percent.

The Rhode Island figures, however, have a dark side: The erosion in Rhode Island-based jobs in March ended back-to-back months of job gains. There were an estimated 494,600 people on employer payrolls, or 700 fewer than the revised February estimate of 495,300.

State officials said poor weather probably was a factor, especially in landscaping, food service and construction.

The puzzling fact of unemployment decreasing even as jobs are lost is a product of the way the federal government gathers data.

For the unemployment rate, a wing of the U.S. Commerce Department, the Census Bureau, surveys households and asks if people are working or looking for work. It sweeps in self-employed people, those with out-of-state jobs and relatives in family businesses even if they are unpaid.

For the count of jobs in Rhode Island, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is part of the U.S. Labor Department, contacts Rhode Island employers to find out how many full-time and part-time workers they have. It includes jobs regardless of where the workers live but it excludes agriculture and people who work in private households.

“It’s a sample, not a universe count,” Murray said of the data sets.

The data show that although there was a month-to-month job loss, nonfarm employment is up by 4,000 jobs from March 2016.

University of Rhode Island economics Professor Leonard Lardaro faulted the state's economy for what he said is the feebleness of its labor force — the number of Rhode Islanders working or actively looking for work.

“In most states, the labor force continually rises, unlike Rhode Island,” Lardaro declared. In March, for only the second time since April 2014, the labor force increased compared to the same month one year earlier, he said.

“That’s just bizarre” because it is peculiar to Rhode Island, he said.

Some Rhode Island residents work out of state because they cannot find at home the jobs they want at a desirable rate of pay and with an appropriate career ladder, he commented. When they work out of state, the Rhode Island unemployment rate improves due to data-collection methodology.

“A lot of it is the unemployed dropping out,” Lardaro said of the labor force characteristics. “To some extent, it’s people retiring.”

In a statement, Gov. Gina Raimondo said, “Because of the investments we’ve made in education, workforce training and economic development, Rhode Island’s economy is on the move.”

gsmith@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7334

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